I was born in 1973 and distinctly remember sitting with my mom's uncle on my grandmother's plastic covered couch (LOL) which was yellowed a bit from all the rampant smoking back in those days, and I remember the smell, electronic buzzing sounds and flickering of the TV set which was part of a combo set that also included a record player, all built into an oak cabinet, complete with argyle cloth covered speakers. This was in Puerto Rico and behind that apartment building there was an old raceway that was converted to a horse track. My uncle was a Formula 1 fanatic and I remember holding and playing with my red and green plastic F1 cars (they were late 60's style, one being Clark's car and the other a red Ferrari) that revved up and shot sparks out the back which he gave me. I'd put it somewhere in the ballpark of '75-'76 when I first started watching but I didn't watch it religiously until about 1986-ish which then led to an all-out obsession with all things racing.

Like Balibari, I've missed very few races since then and consider myself very lucky to have witnessed all the action from what are arguably F1's greatest and most innovative eras.

After San Marino 94 when TV stations broadcast Senna's accident again and again. Then being "obsessed" since Hungaroring 2000 when Hakkinen topped Schumacher in the standings by 2 points for the 1st time that year (I'm a fan of Schu, so I was very eager to see when he would regain the lead).

Threads like this always make me feel like the younger viewer I actually am.

My first memory was back in '99 when Schumacher broke his leg and Coulthard won the race. Strangely, I'd heard of Hill but never heard of Hakkinen until I got into the sport properly.

End of 2003 was when I started to follow the sport. I remember Button's accident, the guy on the track, Alonso's first win and all the hype surrounding the title battle because Schumacher's run could have come to an end. I actually made sure to watch the races the next year. I think the main thing that hooked me was knowing that I would see something spectacular: Either Schumacher would win every race, or the race he didn't win would be memorable. The latter happened at Monaco and I think that was the day I became truly hooked, though the anniversary of Senna's death helped too.

_________________I don't follow F1 so I don't know what I'm talking about

I was born in 1943 & saw my first live motor race in in 1948 as my father & grandfather were motor sport enthusiasts.I have followed F1 since 1950 & watched it on 35mm film till it came on TV.Saw a lot of the greats driving, especially Fangio in 1955.I don't have a favourite period as I enjoy every race.I think the the season just finished was brilliant & the current crop of drivers are as good as any.When did we have 6 WCs on the grid before, never.

You deserve to be banned for being so lucky...

I'm 14 years your junior, and though I was given the bug by my elder brother in the early 60s (and watched whenever possible), it wasn't until around 1980-'81 that I was able to see every race. Since then, I have only missed watching races live when it simply wasn't possible - sometimes when the job interfered, such as Suzuka 2005 and Barcelona 1996.

I'm very jealous of you ob1, for having seen Fangio race... I never even saw Clark, Stewart, von Trips, etc. etc. Lucky I saw Prost though!

Fiki, I cheated a little, yes I did see Fangio drive but in a 300 SLR not an F1 car. I did however sit in his W 196.This is when I saw him drive.

_________________Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have the skill & the will but the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

Holy Cow, you are a old fart, ob1 !!! Thank goodness us young 'uns have such old... ie ancient... leadership here in the forum.

Old fart indeed but I only have 4 years on you.Maybe we should form a Geriatrics section.I'm still jealous as hell that you got to Austin as the race was great & the circuit looked brilliant.

_________________Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have the skill & the will but the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

I was born in 1943 & saw my first live motor race in in 1948 as my father & grandfather were motor sport enthusiasts.I have followed F1 since 1950 & watched it on 35mm film till it came on TV.Saw a lot of the greats driving, especially Fangio in 1955.I don't have a favourite period as I enjoy every race.I think the the season just finished was brilliant & the current crop of drivers are as good as any.When did we have 6 WCs on the grid before, never.

Holy s***.

Not sure what amazes me more, the fact that you're 51 years older than me, or the fact that you've been around for every single F1 race.

Holy Cow, you are a old fart, ob1 !!! Thank goodness us young 'uns have such old... ie ancient... leadership here in the forum.

Old fart indeed but I only have 4 years on you.Maybe we should form a Geriatrics section.I'm still jealous as hell that you got to Austin as the race was great & the circuit looked brilliant.

If you had to walk as much as we did every single day of that Austin race, you would not be so jealous!!! We were in Turn 9, and yes, I can verify that it is the furthest point from the main gate where the funneled us in from the drop-off points about 3/4 of a mile away. and the serpentining cuing lines. That part of the track was no fun at all... the rest of the experience, yeah, be jealous!

As for the Geriatrics section... it would be a small one in this forum, but maybe we could get some of the young ladies to "take care" of us oldies... Kind of like the PF1 nursing home!

I should rectify, I started watching in 1970, though I did get a glimpse of F1 in 1969 but never fully watched F1 till 1970 at the age of twelve (Then I was hooked) I did watch films of the 60's and 50's though, but never had the pleasure of watching them in person like other lucky ones here.

I missed most of school from the age of ten due to various reasons so my time was spent in the garage with my father and going to various race weekends, though because I had no school I had time to watch and study F1. All led to a role in the sport at one stage as a steward. (And future roles working with F1 figures at driver training events and other partnerships with a couple of motor-sport teams)

Holy Cow, you are a old fart, ob1 !!! Thank goodness us young 'uns have such old... ie ancient... leadership here in the forum.

Old fart indeed but I only have 4 years on you.Maybe we should form a Geriatrics section.I'm still jealous as hell that you got to Austin as the race was great & the circuit looked brilliant.

If you had to walk as much as we did every single day of that Austin race, you would not be so jealous!!! We were in Turn 9, and yes, I can verify that it is the furthest point from the main gate where the funneled us in from the drop-off points about 3/4 of a mile away. and the serpentining cuing lines. That part of the track was no fun at all... the rest of the experience, yeah, be jealous!

As for the Geriatrics section... it would be a small one in this forum, but maybe we could get some of the young ladies to "take care" of us oldies... Kind of like the PF1 nursing home!

I bet all the walking was worth it to see & hear F1 cars on that great track.Re your last suggestion, the Mrs said no.

_________________Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have the skill & the will but the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

If thats the race I think it is, I got lucky enough to do a bit of servicing for a guy who actually competed in it a few years back.

(Can't think of any other races Fangio and Co were at over here)

Hi Johnston, I actually didn't know they were still racing cars at Dundrod.My last year at Dundrod was when it stopped being GP. Around 1970 I think.

_________________Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have the skill & the will but the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

I bet all the walking was worth it to see & hear F1 cars on that great track.Re your last suggestion, the Mrs said no.

I don't have a Mrs... sorry about that ob1.

As for the walking being worth it.. it was as I look at it now... at the time it was debatable!

I had a similar walking experience at Barcelona a few years back as the bus couldn't reach the track in time but it was worth every minute.

You have no Mrs. no wonder you can afford to attend GPs.

_________________Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have the skill & the will but the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

If thats the race I think it is, I got lucky enough to do a bit of servicing for a guy who actually competed in it a few years back.

(Can't think of any other races Fangio and Co were at over here)[/quote]

Hi Johnston, I actually didn't know they were still racing cars at Dundrod.My last year at Dundrod was when it stopped being GP. Around 1970 I think.[/quote]

Crossed wires there Obi, Force must be losing power (It's them boys in belfast disturbing it)

I meant a fella who raced against Fangio and co in the 50's at Dundrod. I did a bit of work for him on the circuit of Ireland a few years back.

IIRC he was in an Austin Healy.[/quote]

Oops, sorry about that. Force could be losing its power or maybe the onset of Alzheimers.

It wouldn't be one of the Titterington's that you helped.

_________________Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have the skill & the will but the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

I've been watching since the late 90's (I'm a youngster afterall) but I've spent a great deal of time watching races from previous eras, and eeeeeeendless hours reading all I can from every era of grand prix racing. I enjoy learning the history of the sport as much or maybe even a bit more than watching the new history be made.

I bet all the walking was worth it to see & hear F1 cars on that great track.Re your last suggestion, the Mrs said no.

I don't have a Mrs... sorry about that ob1.

As for the walking being worth it.. it was as I look at it now... at the time it was debatable!

I didn't have to go that far, though I did walk up to T11 on Friday checking on views for next year (and short concession lines).

But I noticed this phenomena Saturday and Sunday... it was much easier going up the hill from the busses in the a.m., than it was walking back down hill in the p.m. No alcohol was consumed, so it was all about that boost of excitement in the morning, and disappointment that it was all over in the late afternoon. (I'm guessing my impatience and excitement at seeing everything the 1st time made the trek up seem longer on Friday.)... Of course, by Friday night when I kicked off my shoes, I had blisters on my feet ... and I didn't care how sore or tired my feet were. What a great experience! (So much so, I'm thinking about traveling to another race during the summer (probably Montreal), if taxes don't too big of a bite, because I can't wait a full year for another weekend at the track like that.)

_________________Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have the skill & the will but the will must be stronger than the skill. Muhammad Ali

Well the start of 2009, I hadn't read anything about the pre season testing and didn't even watch qualifying for the Australian gp weekend, but as soon as I put that race on (sounds weird but I put if on as nothing else was on tv so you could say I accidentally started watching formula 1) I was hooked and have not missed a single race or qualy session since even if I have had to watch the race later on record. This sport really has had me hooked since 2009 and I have loved every season I have watched (even the Vettel domination of 2011!).

Reading the comments in this thread makes me feel like a baby. I started in 2007. I was 15 years old. F1 is not big in my country, in fact, I actually feel very fortunate that I even know about it! I only personallyknow about 1 other person who watches F1. However, although I only started in 2007, I don't think that makes me any less of a fan than thosewho were fortunate enough to have been watching it longer. Since 2007, I've been obsessively studying F1. its history, drivers, rules, etc etc.. My mom thinks my fascination is unhealthy.

I've been watching since the late 90's (I'm a youngster afterall) but I've spent a great deal of time watching races from previous eras, and eeeeeeendless hours reading all I can from every era of grand prix racing. I enjoy learning the history of the sport as much or maybe even a bit more than watching the new history be made.

Since 2011. I watched a little bit of F1 during the Schumacher domination days, but was never interested in it. Then one day F1 crossed my mind and I watched the Malaysian Grand Prix. I kept watching but the races seemed pretty boring until Canada 2011 won me over.

Followed since the year that Rosberg (the real one, the chain smoking original Flying Finn) won the 1982 championship in a Williams at the grand old age of 31. A real racer and it got me hooked.A couple of years later a young Brazillian came along ...

I used to listen to it before it was on the TV then until this year I have seen every F1 race live aprt from one when I was in hospital, but we are not in a position to buy F1 on the pay for channels so I'm sad to say my life has changed as I have only seen 1/2 of them. At first I thought what will I do a whole lifetime of being ruled by F1 came to an end, but it's done me good there is life after F1.I have missed many races this year and my interest is slowly dwindling away I can now take it or leave it, sad in a way nearly 50 years of F1 then all change because I was priced out of it.

My dad used to watch F1 when I was a kid and in my teens and the first races I remember was around early 00's when Shumi and Häkkinen were racing each other.Then I remember seeing Räikkönen at McLaren after Häkkinen had quit and though ''wow these Finns really have some great drivers, here this Räikkönen carries on the torch after Häkkinen''.That feels like yesterday and I can't believe it's already been 10-somewhat years since Kimi started his F1 career.

I never really started to follow F1 though untill the end of 2010, before that I mostly kept myself updated which team and driver did good and who won the WDC.Now I'm hooked and wish I had started to follow F1 earlier to see all those great races live and see Hamiltons first season.

My two earliest memories of watching F1 were Gerhard Berger going straight on into the Tamberollo in 89 and what would have been before that my Dad getting Sky especially for the 1989 F1 season (only had 8 channels) and a few of his friends coming over on a Friday night to watch Friday qualifying and all of them being amazed that every session was shown live on TV.

That was 1989, to think we lost the privilege to watch all sessions for about 20 years.

I also remember watching a film called Mansell & Ferrari many many times growing up, must have been a Christmas present in 1990.

as a young fan i have come to watch the sport somewhere in the 2000-2008 years but only some races when they were on, watching no more than a couple of races a year.2009 is when i really followed the sport, watching every single session, old races, reading old articles and following up closely what happens.Having a mechanical engineering degree and building my own racecar (for the school's FSAE racing team, which i was part of founding) and thus knowing the engineering side of things as well as having an idea on how teams are run also helped.

Followed since the year that Rosberg (the real one, the chain smoking original Flying Finn) won the 1982 championship in a Williams at the grand old age of 31. A real racer and it got me hooked.A couple of years later a young Brazillian came along ...

I remember the Schumacher/Hill battle at the end of 1994 but I definitely wasn't watching when Senna died so it must have been mid-to-late 1994. In the late 90s I was really into F1 and during the mid-2000s I became more casual but since the end of 2009 I've watched almost every race live unless I've got something else on.

I've been watching F1 since 1991, but back then the televising of F1 was a mess here. Keke had already ended his career a few years earlier so interest in F1 wasn't as high anymore. Some of the grands prix were shown live, some were not. They didn't show practice sessions or qualifying but only the race. Then starting 1994 every qualifying and race was shown until 2007 when the company that has the televising rights here decided to put F1 behind a pay channel.

I was born in 1941 and got interested in F1 in 1952 when i picked up a road and track mag and read about fangio. I was a fan of him throughout his career. I have a mag collection that takes up most of my den. Can't remember when i started watching it on tv ( then again there is a lot of things i can't remember anymore) I kinda remember watching some of the races on abc sports when they carried them. Now coverage is a lot better and i get to watch them on either speedvision or tsn.

I had a business building race cars for 30 yrs so i quess racing has always been in my blood. F1 has been at the top of my list because of the high tech. Love reading about the new ideas and brilliant people like newey and byrne. Going to the race in austin made my day. Brilliant track and very well run event. Hope to go every year.

Enjoy coming to this forum even though it sometimes gets a little nuts. This last season was one of the best even though it was not very kind to my favorite driver, hamilton, and can't wait for next year. Where do i join the old geezers club?